Etymologically
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This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 17:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mə.ny/[1]

Forms

menu (feminine menue, masculine plural menus, feminine plural menues)[1] Old French menut, feminine menude.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French menu, inherited from Latin minūtus (“small, fine”),[2][4][5][1][6] the past participle of minuō (“to lessen”),[2][7] which shares its stem with minus (“less”).[3][8] In popular Latin minūtus tended to replace parvus (“small”).[4] It is a doublet of minute.[1]

Cognate with Italian minuto, Occitan menut, Catalan menut, Spanish menudo and Portuguese miúdo.[3][9]

The noun “bill of fare” (1718) is the adjective used as a noun, properly a “detailed list”, as in the phrase “par le menu”, in detail.[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has la gent menude, the common people;[2][4] the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) uses it of small things, of things of little importance, and in menut e suvent “often and thick”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means small and slender, of things and (about 1135) people, and appears in set phrases: menue monnaie “small change”, menus plaisirs, menu fretin “small fry”, menu bétail.[2][4][8] The adverb gave hacher menu “to chop fine” (1314) and par le menu “in detail” (1538).[2]

From par le menu came the noun menu, a detailed list of the dishes of a meal (1718),[7][10] then the set meal at a fixed price in a restaurant and, in computing, a list of options.[10][1] The English word menu was borrowed from it.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – La gent menude “the common people”.[2][4]
  • c. 1100 – “Small, of little value” (Roland).[2]
  • 1314 – Hagier menu “to chop fine”.[2]
  • 1538 – Par le menu “in detail”.[2]
  • 1718 – The noun “bill of fare”.[7][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A menu, the list of dishes making up a meal.[10][1]
  2. A set meal at a fixed price.[10][1]
  3. (computing) A list of options on a screen.[10]
  4. Par le menu: in detail.[10][2]

Adjective

  1. Slender, slight; small and fine: une femme menue.[10][2]
  2. Of little importance: menus frais, menue monnaie.[10][8]

Adverb

  1. Finely, in small pieces: hacher menu.[10][2]

Word family

  • menuet

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 134b
  7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert